Urgent solutions to global climate change are needed. Ambitious tree‐planting initiatives, many already underway, aim to sequester enormous quantities of carbon to partly compensate for anthropogenic CO2 emissions, which are a major cause of rising global temperatures. However, tree planting that is poorly planned and executed could actually increase CO2 emissions and have long‐term, deleterious impacts on biodiversity, landscapes and livelihoods. Here, we highlight the main environmental risks of large‐scale tree planting and propose 10 golden rules, based on some of the most recent ecological research, to implement forest ecosystem restoration that maximizes rates of both carbon sequestration and biodiversity recovery while improving livelihoods. These are as follows: (1) Protect existing forest first; (2) Work together (involving all stakeholders); (3) Aim to maximize biodiversity recovery to meet multiple goals; (4) Select appropriate areas for restoration; (5) Use natural regeneration wherever possible; (6) Select species to maximize biodiversity; (7) Use resilient plant material (with appropriate genetic variability and provenance); (8) Plan ahead for infrastructure, capacity and seed supply; (9) Learn by doing (using an adaptive management approach); and (10) Make it pay (ensuring the economic sustainability of the project). We focus on the design of long‐term strategies to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises and support livelihood needs. We emphasize the role of local communities as sources of indigenous knowledge, and the benefits they could derive from successful reforestation that restores ecosystem functioning and delivers a diverse range of forest products and services. While there is no simple and universal recipe for forest restoration, it is crucial to build upon the currently growing public and private interest in this topic, to ensure interventions provide effective, long‐term carbon sinks and maximize benefits for biodiversity and people.

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Thirteen polymorphic microsatellite loci were isolated from Castanea sativa (Mill.). Six contained dinucleotide repeats, six contained trinucleotide repeats, and one contained a compound microsatellite of a trinucleotide and a tetranucleotide repeat. The loci were characterized using C. sativa trees from three populations in the UK and the parents and six seedlings from a Turkish mapping population. The number of alleles revealed varied from two to 14 (mean = 5.15) per loci. Eight loci were found to be useful in the mapping family.

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Procedures for the production of a new and highly prolific embryogenic culture system have been developed in cassava. The importance of the basal salts and type of auxin in controlling the development of cassava embryogenic tissues has been demonstrated, with culture on Gresshoff and Doy basal medium in the presence of 4-amino-3,5,6,trichloro-picolinic acid (picloram) inducing the formation of friable embryogenic callus from which highly totipotent embryogenic suspension cultures could be established. Plants have been regenerated from these cultures. The availability of embryogenic suspension cultures is considered to have important implications for the application of genetic transformation and other biotechnologies in the agronomic improvement of cassava.